Arraignment date set for Clemens perjury indictment

Clemens’ arraignment set for Monday7-time Cy Young winner to appear in Washington to respond to six charges

JOSE DE JESUS ORTIZ, Copyright 2010 Houston Chronicle

Published 5:30 am, Thursday, August 26, 2010

Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais, AP

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Roger Clemens and his former trainer, Brian McNamee, testified under oath at a hearing before a House committee in February 2008.

Roger Clemens and his former trainer, Brian McNamee, testified under oath at a hearing before a House committee in February 2008.

Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais, AP

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The six-count grand jury indictment said that Roger Clemens obstructed a congressional inquiry with 15 statements that he made under oath.

The six-count grand jury indictment said that Roger Clemens obstructed a congressional inquiry with 15 statements that he made under oath.

Photo: Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images

Arraignment date set for Clemens perjury indictment

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A week after Roger Clemens was indicted on charges of perjury, making false statements and obstruction of Congress, the former Astros and Yankees pitcher’s arraignment date was set for 2 p.m. Monday in Washington, D.C.

The arraignment will take place in Judge Reggie Walton’s chambers. Before Walton issued a gag order last week, Clemens’ lead attorney Rusty Hardin said he expected Clemens to post bond and return to Houston late the day of or a day after the arraignment.

A week ago, a federal grand jury issued a six-count indictment that put Clemens, 48, in danger of incurring a $1.5 million fine and a maximum 30-year prison sentence.

Clemens is represented by Hardin, from Houston, and Mike Attanasio, a San Diego attorney.

In compliance with the gag order, Hardin said Thursday that he could not comment on the case.

Walton issued the gag order to all parties, including the potential witnesses and former or current congressmen who took to the talk-show circuit last week in the aftermath of the indictment to discuss the House Oversight Committee hearings of February 2008.

Hardin has stated he and Clemens are eager to move this case from the court of public opinion to a courtoom, as Hardin wished early in the aftermath of the Mitchell Report’s inclusion of Clemens and former Astros and Yankees teammate Andy Pettitte among baseball players accused of using performance-enhancing drugs.

“Roger is looking forward to his day in court,” Hardin said last week. “He’s happy this has finally happened. We have known for some time this was going to happen. Now that they are ready to move forward, we are too, and we’ll let everything get taken care of in the courts.

“Sometime I want somebody, though, to maybe ask the question, ‘Isn’t his continued insistence at the risk of going to the penitentiary evidence that he didn’t do it?’

“Isn’t that evidence maybe that he didn’t? We’re not going to try to convince you. We’re going to try to do that in a courtroom.”

Along with Barry Bonds, who also has been indicted in connection with an investigation into performance-enhancing drugs, Clemens was one of the biggest sports names over the past 30 years.

A former College World Series winner at Texas, Clemens has made the Houston area his home since his family moved from Ohio when he was young.

Clemens ended a short-lived retirement to join Pettitte with the Astros in 2004, helping lead them to the World Series in 2005.

Clemens was indicted on six counts by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C. Three of the indictments were for allegedly making false statements, two were for perjury related to Clemens’ testimony during the congressional hearings in February 2008, and one was for obstruction of Congress, announced U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. and Shawn Henry, the FBI’s assistant director in charge of the Washington field office.

Clemens is out of the state but is expected to attend the arraignment.

He has not released a statement since posting on his Twitter page: “I never took HGH or Steroids. And I did not lie to Congress. I look forward to challenging the Governments (sic) accusations, and hope people will keep an open mind until trial. I appreciate all the support I have been getting. I am happy to finally have my day in court.”